The turmoil of Fuller's family life is sadly mirrored in the turmoil that rages through her family's corner of Africa. The familial oddities are no more excruciating to read than the political horrors that grow as Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe and whites and blacks attempt to co-exist. The mother is an alcoholic, an undiagnosed manic-depressive. The father is unbelievably absent as he fights with other white men for a white Rhodesia. When the father is around, he is casually baiting armed officials, telling them to shoot him and his family or to let them go, but to be quick about it either way.
The first page of the book shows a picture of the author loading a gun; she is about 7. No matter where her family moves, Alexandra (known as Bobo) is in danger. In 1969, the family lived in England, "but it was unthinkable to either of [the] parents to continue living in such ordinarily lower-middle-class circumstances." Why? Why was it better to live in poverty, in war, in disease, in danger, in Africa? What sort of parents continually place their children in danger like this?
While each member of the family has his/her own idiosyncracies that are highly disturbing or destructive, Fuller manages to still convey to the reader the love she has for her family.
Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid
Read December 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment
Talk to me baby!